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Operation Fast and Furious

Fronteras Desk Senior Field Correspondent Michel Marizco has been covering Operation Fast and Furious -- the gunwalking scandal in Southern Arizona -- since the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010. Here is an overview of the work done by Marizco and other Fronteras Desk reporters

On a cold December night in 2010, a Border Patrol agent was shot and killed along the U.S.-Mexican border in southern Arizona. His murder exposed a government operation known as Fast and Furious that’s become a major scandal.

ATF leaders appeared before Congress Tuesday morning during a hearing into Operation Fast and Furious. A report details how dozens of weapons were found linked to crimes in Mexico. The leaders avoided hard questions as to who was ultimately is responsible for the scandal.

DEA wiretaps provided enough evidence to arrest gun buyers as early as 2009, but the ATF wanted to build their own case instead of sharing the arrests with the DEA, according to a Congressional report.

Sen. Chuck Grassley's office released the correspondence about the ATF led Operations Fast & Furious and Wide Receiver.
Some of the emails suggest the Department of Justice wanted to minimize the amount of information about the gun walking programs that would be made public.

"Operation Wide Receiver" used some of the same tactics as the infamous "Operation Fast and Furious": Buyers purchased weapons in the U.S. and delivered them to Mexico, according to court records. Only nine people have been charged; it is unknown how many have been hurt.

Hundreds of Border Patrol agents filled part of the baseball stadium in a sea of olive green. A line of riflemen stood at attention as the American flag and the agency's own flag fluttered in the cool morning air.

Survivors also filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the owners of the gun shop that allegedly sold the weapon that killed Agent Brian Terry. The claim is a necessary step before filing a lawsuit against the government.